Celtic striker Leigh Griffiths has admitted that he feared the Parkhead side were going down to ten men as soon as he saw Olivier Ntcham start running towards St Mirren defender Stephen McGinn on Friday night.

The Parkhead side were reduced to ten men following Ntcham's dismissal before the interval in what was a frustrating stalemate for Brendan Rodgers' side.

Hearts' win over Motherwell on Saturday compounded their disappointment as the Tyncastle side set up a five-point gap at the top of the table.

And while Rodgers felt that Ntcham's red-card was harsh, Griffiths has confirmed that he saw it coming from his place on the bench.

"I called the second booking straight away," said the striker. "I thought ‘uh-uh’. Scott Sinclair was sitting next to me and we thought he’d be off.

“It was a striker’s challenge, if you like. I don’t want to say too much about the referee though as I’ve seen other folk getting hammered.

“At least if they try to cite me they might get my name wrong.

“These things happen. Olivier knows he’s done wrong but we played well with 10 men. I’m sure he’ll apologise to the boys, even if it’s in French."

Griffiths had the ball in the back of the net in the final minute of the game only to have strayed marginally offside.

It summed up what was a flat performance from Rodgers' side in Oran Kearney's first game in charge of St Mirren and Griffiths is well aware that Celtic need to lift it as they prepare for a busy month.

The Parkhead side have six games coming up between domestic and European ties and they will be required to produce more convincing performances.

In addition, they will not wish to allow further daylight to open up between themselves and Hearts at the top of the league.

“We dominated despite playing a large part of the game with 10 men," said Griffiths.

“You’re not always going to get clear cut chances but you need to put the half chances away.

“Credit to St Mirren, they were very resolute. I thought I’d nicked it at the end but was maybe half a yard off.

“Another split second and I would have been on, and I had another chance earlier with my right foot I should have buried.

“It wasn’t to be.

“We knew what St Mirren would be like, regardless if we had 10 or 11. We had a lot of the ball but couldn’t break them down.”